I've done it twice, next time I'll remember......

Nu-Guy

Thats right. That make two times I've forgotten to ask the butcher to remove the membrane from the back of my baby back ribs. Am I ruining my ribs by not removing it? I'll be trying NB Mahogoanys. Man, I had to go out and buy a mortar and petstal to beat those marinade ingredents into submission. It sure didn't seem like much when I got done. Hope I did it right. I only did one rack cut in half and then into the bag with the marinade. Of course the stupid membrane won't allow the marinade to soak into the back side :( Hope it turns out ok.

MAC

Nu-Guy,
You canremove it yourself. You still can. Just get a corner of it with a paper towel and pull. Once you have done one you will see how incredibly easy it is. Lots of times I just grab and pull with my fingers. No big deal. Just go for It. If you loose the rub on one side just make some more. [p]MAC

Dr. Chicken

Nu-Guy,
You'll be ok! I cooked good ribs for years with out removing it! There's a lot of other people on the "forum" that cooked 'em without removing it too! It does make them more tender if they're cooked right and it allows the marinade or rub to penetrate the meat.
Hang in there, you'll get the knack of it! It just takes time and practice![p]Dr. Chicken

JimW

Nu-Guy,
Removing the membrane is not required. However, if you leave it on, 1) any marinade won't be as effective on that side and 2) the membrane on a slow cooked rack of ribs will be more noticeable. On a quick cook (300-350 for 90 minutes) the membrane gets kind of crispy and easier to bite through. In any case, I try to remove it on all my ribs. It just takes a second. If I don't, so what.
JimW

Gfw

<p />Nu-Guy, these "Mahogoanys" were done with the membrane removed - it's easy if you do it with a paper towel - Tim M has a few pictures on his site

[ul][li]NB's Mahogoany Ribs[/ul]

Brant

Nu-Guy,[p]I didn't know a butcher would remove the membrane for you. Of course, I buy all of my meat from the big supermarket chains (shame on me).[p]As others have said, removing the membrane is usually easy enough. A flat-head screw driver scraping along an end bone helps to get it started, and the paper towel finishes it. I've said before that not all membranes were created equally, though, so a stubborn rack can be frustrating. But IMO it is worth it.[p]Brant

Char-Woody

Brant, I agree, and with the stubborn's I just slice the membrane between each rib and forget it..In fact, I did some a while back and couldn't tell the difference with the sliced rack in the bunch. Maybe I am easy to fool??
Cheers..:-)
C~W[p]

King-O-Coals

Char-Woody, yall must have strange cows up there. What's this screwdriver and scraping stuff all about? I use to never remove mine and it was never a problem. I have been trying it for the last few times, and I don't know if it makes a difference or not. But I did show a picture a week ago on the ease of removing it. Start at the narrow end and pull it to the wide end. Catfish skinners are the trick. I can pull the membrane off three slabs of ribs in about 20 seconds. Of course,, I am the KING!

King-O-Coals

<p />Nu-Guy, this is my little wifey pulling off membranes. She is nearly 50 years old and has arthritis. She has trouble pulling a needle and thread through a buttonhole. If you keep having trouble with this,, just send your ribs to me and I will gladly devour,,,, I mean de-membrane them for you.

tims

King-O-Coals,[p]You may be the KING of COWS, but I think that they talking about pork ribs.

King-O-Coals

TimS, I blew that one on 2 counts. I also meant to say start at the wide end and pull to the narrow. Cows are probably easy to do to..:^)

Seattle Todd

Nu-Guy,[p]Have to agree with Char Woody on this for the most part. Meaning:[p]There are three reasons that make pulling the membrane is more important from what I can see/have experienced:[p]1.) With a marinade. The membrane stops marinade absorbtion to a decent degree though they'll still be good.[p]2.) Heavy smoking (which you're doing with most ribs) ridding the ribs of the membrane will greatly increase smoke penetration on that side of the rack.[p]3.) Low-N-Slow. Which I haven't tried but I can see the reasons for ridding the rack of the membrane. Going to be softer and the membrane might offer up a weird consistency compared to the rest of the rack.[p]Once again you're not going to die from cooking them with the membrane on. Personally if I'm grilling babybacks direct I don't mind the membrane as it crisps up like bacon. At least in Seattle restaurants (and probably every restaurant outside of 'true' 'Q places) they don't touch the membrane and you can still get some good ribs. Maybe the true 'Q places don't either, I'm not sure.[p]Bottom line is try 'em both ways and decide if the effort is worth it. Learning curve goes from (as said) 5 minutes of cursin' and fumin' to 20 seconds of yawning while you're pulling it off.